Note to Correspondents

‘CHASING THE DREAM:  YOUTH FACES OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS’

EXHIBIT OPENS AT HEADQUARTERS

A group photographic exhibition entitled “Chasing the Dream:  Youth Faces of the Millennium Development Goals” will open with a gala event and reception in the Main Gallery of the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby on Friday, 12 August 2005 at 6 p.m. in observance of International Youth Day.

Statements at the opening event will be made by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, with Nane Annan as guest speaker.  A number of young people profiled in the exhibit will also be present to speak about their experiences, followed by a performance by renowned singer Roberta Flack.

This exhibit brings world attention to the Millennium Development Goals and their critical focus on the problems of young people.  The 140-print group exhibition brings us face to face with eight young people from around the world -- their stunning photographs and stories provide insight into the realities young people face, as they chase their dreams and goals for a better life -- goals that include basic needs, such as providing education, job opportunities, training, quality health care and access to clean water.

Young people from Brazil, Cambodia, India, Jamaica, Uganda, Morocco, the Kyangwali refugee settlement in north Uganda, and the Ukraine are profiled in the exhibit.  Photos are by the youth themselves and by acclaimed photographer Diego Goldberg of Argentina, head of this year’s World Press Photo jury.  The youth’s life stories are told by Argentinian journalist Roberto Guareschi, former editor-in-chief of Clarin.  UN agencies and non-governmental organizations in each country were partners in the project.  An interactive video installation brings the Millennium Goals into focus when visitors reach out and touch a life-size hand on the video display.

This exhibition is a United Nations inter-agency initiative in conjunction with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Millennium Campaign, the World Bank and the Youth Empowerment Network (YEN), with funding from the Government of Finland.  The exhibit is curated and produced by PixelPress.  Visit www.chasingdream.org for more information on this exhibit.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen, tel.:  (212) 963-8531; or Liza Wichmann, tel.:  (212) 963-0089, or visit the website at www.un.org/events/UNART.

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For information media • not an official record